News and new web site postings

So, I've been running this blog for more than a year, and I still haven't figured out what it's about. Oh, well. I have bigger things to worry about.

Anyway, I recently posted new content to my web site, rlaenterprises.net, and just to cover all the bases, I thought I would report that fact here. So here they are:

1. New house design, Suburban Contemporary #15A. It should be (a little) familiar, since I've been talking about it for ... months, and it is the source for the How Did You Do That page.


2. Another new house design, Country Home #1. Not as ambitious, but still nice.


3. Yet another new house design, Tract House #4A. Not very ambitious or complicated, but something most of us could afford to build. There is some value in being practical, sometimes.


4. Some reorganization and new pages have been added to the How To Design Houses section. Honestly, I did the work back in August, but now it's posted. Of course, it's not done, so I think there's enough to keep me busy in the future.


5. I posted some new chapters to my novel, My Soul Up There. If any of you have been reading the current installments, this is your chance to read more.

As I mentioned in passing (on some web page or other, I forget where), lately I've been almost totally consumed by a critical illness in the family and a crushing project schedule at work. Either one should be enough, but I have both. Sometimes that's how it is. For sanity's sake, I do still try to find time to do house designs and update my web site, but weeks have gone by and I have hardly been able to sit at the computer for more time than it takes to check my email. Of course, I use the computer at work all the time, but I wouldn't categorize that as "leisure time".

On the other hand, lately while I'm doing overnight duty watching my father, I do have some time to fool around with design ideas. Nighttime is usually very quiet, so staying awake becomes job #1. House designs are interesting to me, so that is how I managed to complete a new design even with everything else going on.

It won't be very long, now. Yes, he's dying (of cancer), and at home. We don't know how long, but probably not past Christmas. I've started (and stopped) several blog entries to talk about this, but every time I think I know what to say, I run out of the desire to say it.

He can't talk. He can hardly communicate at all, and I think that frustrates him most. But sometimes he thanks us for what we're doing for him, so I know he knows, and he knows we're there and why we're there. In some ways I think everyone should go through this experience, but on the other hand, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's a chance to grow, and as a family grow together, but it's damn hard.

So, that's what's going on. Check out the new content. I think some of it is pretty good.